


Into the Black

by Svartalfhild



Category: Critical Role (Web Series), Firefly
Genre: Alternate Universe - Firefly Setting, Angst, F/M, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Psychological Trauma, Romance, discussion of abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-17
Updated: 2016-09-17
Packaged: 2018-08-15 12:37:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8056714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Svartalfhild/pseuds/Svartalfhild
Summary: Twin smugglers Vex'ahlia and Vax'ildan have long been the owners of the Peregrine Class ship, Greyskull, which they consider their home among the stars.  Over the years, their little family has grown from two to seven, among them a brilliant engineer they call Percy.  There's a darkness haunting him, but he's one of the crew and they will always go into the Black together.





	Into the Black

**Author's Note:**

> There was such a powerful reaction to my Firefly AU idea that I posted on Tumblr that I just had to do it. I hope it meets expectations.

There was little to be heard aboard the Greyskull at the moment but the low rumble of the engine, a comforting sound, at least by Vex'ahlia's estimation. Most of the ship's inhabitants were currently asleep in their quarters, but she roamed the halls, satisfied that the autopilot course was set properly, but unable to find rest. Her feet were bare as she walked, the feeling of cold metal grates under her toes subtly reminding her that this ship was hers. Well, and her brother's, but he didn't spend half so much time piloting and taking care of it as she did.

The only person who spent more time looking after the ship was the gangly engineer whom they'd hired specifically for that purpose. Vex took it as fact that this young man was all of the following things: 1. brilliant (if a bit frazzled in the brain pan), 2. charming, and 3. very handsome. If it was mechanical, he could make something of it and that something was always amazing. As such, he had never given her a reason to regret hiring him.

It was to his domain that her feet now carried her. The steady motion of the engine sometimes had a way of putting her at peace when she felt restless and if its caretaker was there, he never minded her lurking about.

“Percy?” she called as she came to the doorway. Peeking around, she spotted a familiar shock of white hair in the back corner. He looked to be fiddling with some spare parts and muttering under his breath. “Percy?” she repeated more loudly, getting closer. No response. She touched his shoulder, but he still gave no indication that he was aware of her presence. At this point, it was clear to her that he was having one of his episodes.

One of the quirks about Percival was that sometimes he wasn't all there. He would fail to notice anyone around him, even if they slapped him across the face. This would often be accompanied by muttering about things that seemingly had no context.

“I can't find them. I don't want to find them. Needles like teeth in my skin. No way back. I won't risk it. I won't risk them.”

“Percy? Can you hear me?” As per usual, it was no use. He was off in another universe. With a look of sympathy, Vex sat herself down beside him and said nothing more.

As she watched him, she thought about what could have caused him to be like this. He was traumatized; that much was clear. Pike had once told her that his white hair was the result of a profound case of emotional shock. She worried about him. His episodes were growing longer and more frequent these past few weeks, but she wasn't sure how to broach the topic with him beyond simply asking if he was okay. Why would he tell her, anyway? He didn't seem the type to share such personal things.

“No!” he abruptly burst out, dropping his little project like a hot coal and scrambling to his feet, before bolting from the engine room. Vex chased after him, calling for him to stop, but to no avail, at least not until they reached the door of the unoccupied shuttle. He started patting down the walls, looking for the secret latch Vax had installed to keep people from messing about in there, for what reason, she could not fathom, but she wrapped her arms around his waist to pull him away.

“Percival!” she pleaded, but he continued to struggle. Being much stronger than her, he was soon able to pry himself from her grasp and sprawl across the wall. A loose panel wobbled and he fumbled frantically, trying to pull it open. “Percy, don't!” She reached out to him again and this time, his hand flew up, as quick as lightning, and grabbed her wrist. He then went very still and looked at her directly for the first time. His expression was odd, though. It was cold, like anger directed at a hated enemy, but though he looked her right in the eyes, it was like he was glaring past her at someone else.

Vex saw her opportunity and took the initiative, twisting her arm to bar him across the chest and push him into the wall.

“Darling?” Her tone was soft, despite the force with which she'd shoved him. His expression changed again, from anger to fear to confusion to anxious embarrassment, and she knew that he'd come back to himself.

“Vex?”

“Are you alright?”

“I...I don't know. Did I hurt you? Oh god, tell me I didn't hurt anyone.” Never in the three years she'd known him, had she seen him this afraid. She could feel him shaking beneath her arm.

“It's okay! It's okay. I'm fine. Everything's fine. You just had a sort of fit and tried to get into the shuttle, like you were trying to escape or something.”

“I'm so sorry,” Percy apologized his voice sounding half relieved, half wracked with guilt. Vex moved her arm away, instead gently cradling his hand, which had been cut on the edge of the loose panel.

“It's alright, dear. I-”

“What the fuck is going on in here?!” a voice suddenly interjected and the two of them looked up to see a half-asleep, disgruntled Vax peering over at them. He was soon joined by a somewhat excited Grog and an alarmed Keyleth.

“Oh my god! Percy, you're bleeding!” the redhead cried out. The walkways rattled loudly as she rushed across to meet them.

“Get Pike. There's been a small accident,” Vex replied calmly to her brother. Vax gave a silent nod and stalked away.

“There's no fight? I heard shouting,” Grog commented, sounding quite disappointed. Vex noted that he had his assault rifle slung over his back. They really needed to take him out for walkies soon or else she feared someone on this boat was going to get shot and it would probably be Vax.

“I'm afraid not, Grog. I was just having a nightmare,” Percy assured the huge man, now very much himself. Keyleth put a concerned hand on his shoulder.

“What happened?” she asked and Percy did not meet her gaze.

“A very vivid nightmare.” This was a vague answer if there ever was one, but Vex had a feeling that he honestly couldn't remember what had just happened, so she took it upon herself to help him out.

“He had a bit of a panic attack and sliced his hand on the loose panel.” That was still rather vague, but from the glance he gave her, she surmised that he appreciated not having his problems laid totally bare for all to see, though she was sure to give him a look that told him they would be discussing this further privately.

“Well, come on, let's get you to the infirmary and Pike'll fix you up.”

Quietly Keyleth led the way to the infirmary and Percy obligingly sat on the examination table, long legs dangling off the edge a bit. Vax appeared a moment later with a very short platinum blond woman in tow. Percy offered up his bleeding hand for her to see and her soft features scrunched into a frown of concern, much more intensely than the situation warranted in Vex's opinion.

“Was this another one of your accidents?” Pike asked and though her tone was gentle, there was an authority to it. Vex blinked. This had happened before? She felt her guts twist uncomfortably.

“Sorry, what? You telling me Percy's banged himself up like this before?” Vax burst out before the engineer could answer. All eyes were on Percy, staring at him expectantly, except for Pike, who was busy cleaning his cut.

“I...have nightmares a lot.”

“That doesn't explain what you were doing by the empty shuttle. I'm sorry; I know you don't want to talk about this and I understand that, but when you're disturbing the sleep of everyone else on this boat and spooking the cargo bay full of cattle and then you tell us that this kind of shit happens routinely, it becomes our business.” At this, Percy shifted uncomfortably and Pike firmly reminded him to keep still. He then closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand.

“I'm sorry to be so reticent. This is...difficult for me.”

“Yeah, that's pretty clear,” Vax replied, arms crossing into an expectant posture. “We can't help you if we don't understand the situation.”

An awkward moment of silence passed in which Percy continued to look pensive and Pike finished bandaging his hand. He then leaned forward, presenting his head to the doctor.

“Dr. Trickfoot, would you care to examine my scalp?” he offered and the tiny woman frown in confusion, but nonetheless did as he suggested. Her little fingers mussed his white hair as they probed his head, searching for anything unusual. After a few beats, she stopped suddenly and her blue eyes went wide.

“What is it?” Keyleth asked anxiously.

“A surgery scar. Someone was cutting on Percy's brain.” Hands flew to mouths with the sound of gasping. Keyleth touched the engineer's shoulder once again, but he didn't lean into it like he usually did.

“What? Did somebody, like, wanna see why he's so smart or something?” Grog put in and Percy raised his eyebrows at the huge man.

“That's remarkably close to the explanation, actually,” he praised, adjusting his glasses for a second before letting out a sigh and continuing. “I suppose I should start at the beginning. You know me as simply Percival. You all know that I come from money, but you don't know what money. Well. My full name is Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III of Whitestone, which some of you may know is the capital of Atlas.”

“Atlas? Isn't that a cold little moon of a core planet that has really nice stone?” Vax queried and Percy nodded.

“Indeed. My family runs, or rather _ran_ , that little moon. Then the Briarwoods happened.”

“The Briarwoods? Uriel does business with them, doesn't he?” Vex asked, heart sinking even further into her gut. Uriel ran Emon, which they'd come to think of as home port. If they couldn't dock in Emon anymore, then they could kiss goodbye to half their connections and thus half the available work.

“He does. I didn't say anything before because I don't think he knows what the Briarwoods have done and I know we'd be starving without the work we get in Emon.” He was looking right at Vex as he said this, as if he had read her mind. She felt a chill run down her spine.

“What did the Briarwoods do, Percy?” Keyleth pressed.

“During the war, they murdered my family and made it look like Browncoats did it, then they forged documents to make it seem like they were our legal successors. I was at university on Ariel at the time and when I heard what had happened, I rushed home to find them waiting, but instead of killing me, they gave me to a government scientist named Dr. Anna Ripley.” His eye twitched as he said the name and then he fell silent. Vex could see that he was finding this whole discussion quite difficult and her heart ached for him.

“She experimented on you,” she all but whispered. He close his eyes again and gave a solemn nod.

“It was part of some secret programme. The paperwork said I'd transferred schools to some 'academy', but it wasn't a school at all. They were taking talented teenagers like me and turning us into tools. I don't remember much of my time there. It's all quite fuzzy. Ripley was in charge of a certain group of subjects, something about 'unlocking creative potential'. I think they wanted to see if we could build weapons for them. Or maybe it was that they wanted us to be weapons. I don't know.” He paused, rubbing his eyes with heels of his hands. “My little sister, Cassandra, got me out. I don't know how, but she survived the massacre and infiltrated the academy. She didn't make it out with me. I don't know what happened to her, but I'm fairly certain they wouldn't've let her live.”

“Oh, Percy. I'm so sorry,” Keyleth gasped.

“According to the Alliance, I joined the army after my family was murdered and died in battle, trying to blow up as many Independents as possible. It's all complete bullshit. The de Rolos were secret Browncoat sympathizers. My older brother and sister, Julius and Vesper, were actively involved in espionage for Browncoat brass. In any case, I can't go through Alliance checkpoints. Dead men don't have IDent cards.” This was news to pretty much everyone, but that was understandable. It was highly sensitive information and it was a major show of trust that he was sharing it with them now, even knowing as he did that the twins had themselves been involved with the Browncoats.

“The Alliance must still be chasing you somehow. If they won't let a man live down a single parking ticket, I doubt they'll be willing to forget an asset like you,” Vax observed solemnly. Percy pinched the bridge of his nose again and stood up from the examining table.

“Dr. Ripley. I know she's looking for me. She almost got me in Stillben.”

“Stillben? That backwater where we found you in a cell?” Vex interjected, a look of horror in her deep brown eyes. The pieces were slowly coming together in her head and she did not like the picture they were making.

“Yes. I don't know what I was doing. I had heard she was there and I just had this impulse to kill her. I guess I thought that if I killed her, then I wouldn't have to run anymore and I'd have some measure of revenge, but that was stupid. The Feds were on me the moment I drew my gun. I sat in there for a full day, expecting her to collect me at any moment. Then you all came and got me out,” Percy explained, rubbing his brow agitatedly.

“Alright then, well, if she comes knocking, she's going to have to go through us.” Vax crossed his arms again and leaned against the doorframe. “I for one have no reservations about putting a bullet in her.”

“You don't have to get involved. You can still walk away from the trouble I bring. Just dump me at the next port.”

“We are _not_ going to abandon you. You're part of the crew and that means we're involved, for better or worse,” Vex insisted and an expression came over Percy's face then that she didn't think she'd ever seen him wear before. He looked deeply touched, on the verge of tears even.

“Vex, I-”

“Yeah, Percy, ain't you like the best engineer in the Verse? We'd be pretty fucking stupid cowards if we dumped your ass just 'cause some _xi niu_ weirdo wants at you,” Grog cut in, looking confused. “If she tries to take you, we'll just fill her with holes 'til the only thing she's grabbing for is her own parts off the ground.” He said this with such a nonchalant shrug that Percy seemed compelled to let out a watery laugh.

“I've a feeling you'll be rethinking that the next time I have one of my nightmares.”

“Don't worry about it, Percy. We've got you,” Vex comforted with a soft expression and he met her gaze. Whatever he saw was enough to make a few of the tears built up in his eyes finally fall down his angular cheeks. Keyleth pulled him into a tight hug and he buried his face in her mane of red hair.

“C'mon, let's all get some rest. We land at Vasselheim tomorrow and I cannot wait to unload all these cows,” Vax sighed, drawing everyone out of the infirmary and back to their respective rooms.

* * *

“Well, I'm off to see Lyra. You kids have fun.” Scanlan Shorthalt waved as he returned to his shuttle from breakfast. Much to everyone else's envy, the companion had slept peacefully through the entirety of last night's events and was heading off to his client well-rested. Not that he really even needed it this time around.

Lyra wasn't like his other clients. They didn't do anything sexual; Scanlan just spent the day with her, listening to her talk about her crush (who was a bit of an asshole, in Vex's opinion) and having fancy drinks with little umbrellas and shit.

Vex and Vax, on the other hand, had to convince some crotchety farmers to take the deal for these damn cattle that _Scanlan had pointed them to in the first place_. Vex was sure she'd be hearing their mooing long after they were gone and she'd scrubbed the cargo bay clean of their mess.

It wasn't fair.

“Have a lovely time, darling. Do give Lyra my regards,” Vex called up to him sweetly and Trinket gave a _woof_ beside her, souring Scanlan's smile slightly, earning the enormous dog a scratch behind the ears.

“Are we ready to go?” At this, Vex looked up to see Percy standing beside her, all dressed in his long blue coat.

“You're coming with us?” He didn't usually, unless they really needed him for some particular purpose.

“I need to get us some parts and things and an extra pair of eyes while you're dealing couldn't hurt. Unless of course you'd rather I stay behind. Then I-”

“No no, it's fine, Percy. Just stay close to me, alright?” Vex gave him a wink and a grin and she could have sworn the tips of his pale ears went a bit pink.

“Aye aye, capt'n,” he replied with a playful glint in his ice-blue eyes. Feeling quite satisfied with this, Vex sauntered down the ramp and out of the ship, with Trinket and Percy and soon Vax and Grog in tow.

 


End file.
